Overlord

I saw this film at the Philadelphia Film Festival and I had a good time watching it. It's a very intense movie with a lot of action throughout; it never has a moment where it calms down. I like that aspect of it but I can definitely see it being sensory overload for a lot of people. It's also quite graphic, and sometimes it's a little gratuitous and overly gory. I think the film relies a little too much on jump scares but the atmosphere is pretty creepy anyway. I think towards the end the film gets pretty over-the-top and silly, but I think it's an interesting setting and it's very well-shot and the VFX are pretty good.

If you want to go in to watching this film without seeing the trailer, then don't read any reviews - including this one. There are no spoilers beyond what the trailer shows.

I make that opening claim because if you hadn't seen the trailer, you wouldn't know of the dual-genre nature of Overlord. The genre shift to full-blown 'zombies-but-not-quite' action comes after 75 minutes of truly brilliant wartime drama with some moderate scares. The opening scenes of the paratroopers entrance to the war-torn French countryside is a particular highlight for its chaotic, intense and disorientating depiction of what it must've been like for those who did the deed for real in WW2.

The horror element begins to build early on but is never an indication of the upcoming genre shift (if you've not seen the trailer, at least) until the point (From Dusk to Dawn style) where it's made clear that we're not in Kansas anymore. The only bummer I can think of is the film falls into the trap of a predictable final 30 minutes. With all the enjoyment had before then, it's so disappointing to feel let down at the last hurdle.

The soundtrack is immense, the cinematography is brooding without being dark (a style which works for both of the film's genres), and the CGI special effects are affectingly convincing. Don't expect great things from the script (which includes several awful one-liner comebacks), but I think this film will go down as one of the great zombie films of recent years, and may even be noted for its even better turn as a war film.

Best quote: "What is this?!" - "Our greatest achievement. With it, we create super-Nazis; a thousand year army and it's thousand year soldiers."

At one stage thought to be some form of Cloverfield sequel/prequel, thanks to the association with wonder producer J.J Abrams and his production company Bad Robot, Overlord is very much a film set in its own universe that takes us on a gore filled World War 2 set adventure to occupied France, as a small collection of American soldiers discover that German run labs are not the ideal place to spend time in.

Directed by upcoming Australian filmmaker Julius Avery whose previous film Son of a Gun showed much promise, Overlord does a lot with its relatively small budget of $38 million as we are thrust into the D-Day invasion and follow a collection of paratroopers on a mission to destroy a German radio bunker set up at the base of an old church building.

It's not being over the top when you say the first 10 - 20 minutes of Avery's film are some of the most thrilling and dazzling of the last 12 months, with the audience given barely a moment to breathe as the films stunning opening set-piece takes place and we launch out of an under fire carrier plane with Jovan Adepo's Boyce and his fellow soldiers.

If Overlord had somehow managed to keep this pace, intensity and style up, Avery's film would be a dead-set undeniable gem but sadly the film unleashes its best too early as the film around it, whilst often entertaining and gloriously over the top, just never quite delivers the thrills, spills and chills like you'd wished it had done.

Truly becoming the cinematic equivalent of the famous Wolfenstein video game series (which must've been a direct inspiration for this tale), Overlord's mix of war time action, sci-fi, straight up visceral horror (found within the Nazi's underground labs) and thriller doesn't always hold up, even if it's great to see a film of this ilk play it completely straight with Overlord forgoing laughs as there's no winking to the camera as the nefarious goings on begin to take hold.

It's a gore-filled and claret flowing exercise, with Avery clearly at home with the action side of things and a little less so at character building, with side players like Wyatt Russell's knuckle-duster loving Ford, John Magaro's stereotypical Italian solider and Mathilde Ollivier's token French female tomboy Chloe having fun but remaining fairly forgettable with Game of Thrones star Pilou Asbæk stealing the acting show with his turn as evil Nazi Wafner.

You never regret going along for this ride with enough imagination, impressive make-up and special effects and darkly imagined horrors such a soldiers traumatic return from death keeping things moving and ever watchable, you just can't help but feel like Overlord had the potential to become a genuine classic of its genre mash-up.

Final Say -

There's a lot to like about Overlord (an unfortunate box-office dud) that's likely to find a much a larger audience on home release but despite its many strengths and standout individual scenes, this Wolfenstein come to life is a mostly enjoyable but mostly forgettable affair.

3 bullet wounds out of 5

A black soldier in a white unit during WW2!! I understand the need for inclusion and im black, but in these kind of stories inspired by real events its better to stick as close as possible to History; otherwise it diminishes the struggles, sacrifices and accomplishments of those people back in those days. He could have been separated from his unit during the jump and joined the others on the ground.

Perfect blend of WW2 action, zombies and gore. Don't go into this expecting Oscar nominations, and you'll enjoy the ride. It was exactly what I expected- I was entertained for close to 2 hrs. Got my money's worth.